The magnitude of wear should be at a minimum for numerous automobile and aeronautical components. In the current work, composites were prepared by varying the cenosphere content using the conventional stir casting method. A uniform distribution of particles was ensured with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Three major parameters were chosen from various factors that affect the wear. A wear test was conducted with a pin-on-disc apparatus; the controlling parameters were volume percentages of reinforcement of 5, 10, 15, and 20%, applied loads of 9.8, 29.42, and 49.03 N, and sliding speeds of 1.26, 2.51, and 3.77 m/s. The design of the experiments (DOE) was performed by varying the different influencing parameters using the full factorial method. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the effects of the parameters on the wear rate. Using regression analysis, a response curve was obtained based on the experimental results. The parameters in the resulting curve were optimized using the Genetic Algorithm (GA). The GA results were compared with those of an alternate efficient algorithm called Neural Networks (NNs).

A low thermal expansion ceramic, cordierite (), was synthesized using pyrophyllite. Pyrophyllite usually consists of and , which are the main components of cordierite. and were added in various amounts to pyrophyllite and fired for synthesis and sintering. -cordierite crystallized from with mixing of 20 wt% and 1.7 wt% , and un-reacted cristobalite was also detected with the cordierite. As the temperature was increased to , the cordierite yield was gradually increased. Powder compacts of the synthesized cordierite were sintered between ; the sintered samples showed a low thermal expansion coefficient of and typical sintering behavior. It is anticipated that it will be possible to synthesize cordierite ceramics on a mass production scale using the mineral pyrophyllite.

For rear metallization with Al paste, Al back contacts require good passivation, high reflectance, and a processing temperature window compatible with the front metal. In this paper, the effect of the firing ambient during the metallization process on the formation of Al rear metal was investigated. We chose three different gases as ambient gases during the firing process. Using SEM, we observed the formation of a back surface field in , , and Air ambients. To determine the effect of the ambient on Voc, the suns-Voc tool was used. In this study, we described the mechanism of burn-out of organic materials in Al paste during the firing process. The oxygen ambient plays an important role in the burn-out process. We calculated the efficiency with obtained the back surface recombination velocities using PC1D simulation. It was found that the presence of oxygen during the firing process influenced the uniform back surface field because the organic materials in the Al paste were efficiently burned out during heating. The optimized temperature with oxygen flow shows an absolute efficiency of 19.1% at PC1D simulation.

The feasibility of obtaining graphitic carbon films on targeted substrates without a catalyst and transfer step was explored through the pyrolysis of the botanical derivative camphor. In a horizontal quartz tube, camphor was subjected to a sequential process of evaporation and thermal decomposition; then, the decomposed product was deposited on a glass substrate. Analysis of the Raman spectra suggest that the deposited film is related to unintentionally doped graphitic carbon containing some linear carbon chains. The films were transparent in the visible range and electrically conductive, with a sheet resistance comparable to that of graphene. It was also demonstrated that graphitic films with similar properties can be reproduciblyobtained, while property control was readily achieved by varying the process temperature.

To research the characteristics of ITO film depending on a polarity of SiOC, specimens of ITO/SiOC/glass with metal-insulator-substrates (MIS) were prepared using a sputtering system. SiOC film with 17 sccm of oxygen flow rate became a non-polarity with low surface energy. The PL spectra of the ITO films deposited with various argon flow rates on SiOC film as non-polarity were found to lead to similar formations. However, the PL spectra of ITO deposited with various argon flow rates on SiOC with polarity were seen to have various features owing to the chemical reaction between ITO and the polar sites of SiOC. Most ITO/SiOC films non-linearly showed the Schottky contacts and current increased. But the ITO/SiOC film with a low current demonstrated an Ohmic contact.

We present an excellent detection for nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas using polycrystalline ZnO wire-like films synthesized via a simple method combined with sputtering of Zn metallic films and subsequent thermal oxidation of the sputtered Zn nanowire films in dry air. Structural and morphological characterization revealed that it would be possible to synthesize polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite ZnO films of a wire-like nanostructure with widths of 100-150 nm and lengths of several microns by controlling the sputtering conditions. It was found from the gas sensing measurements that the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor showed a significantly high response, with a maximum value of 29.2 for 2 ppm NO at , as well as a reversible fast response to NO with a very low detection limit of 50 ppb. In addition, the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor also displayed an NO-selective sensing response for NO, , , , and CO gases. Our results illustrate that polycrystalline ZnO wire-like thin films are potential sensing materials for the fabrication of NO-sensitive high-performance gas sensors.